Church

Self-declared Zimbabwe Anglican Archbishop formed his own church

An axed Anglican bishop, Nolbert Kunonga, and an ally of the Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe has formed his own Anglican province thus splintering the Harare diocese while local police and security forces disrupted Sunday services conducted by those who opposed him.

An axed Anglican bishop, Nolbert Kunonga, and an ally of the Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe has formed his own Anglican province thus splintering the Harare diocese while local police and security forces disrupted Sunday services conducted by those who opposed him.

Bishop Kunonga had his priestly licence revoked after illegally pulling out of the Anglican Central African province. The bishop was replaced by Bishop Sebastian Bakare who took the helm as the head of the Harare diocese. He defended his decision to pull out of the Anglican province saying there were no bishops like him who refuse to embrace homosexuality.

"There is no bishop in the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe whom I can clearly say has sympathised, indulged or compromised in homosexuality and we follow the scriptures. We refuse to embrace homosexuality," the Sunday Mail quoted him as saying.

Not wielding to the authority of his replacement, Bishop Kunonga announced the creation of a new independent Anglican Church in Zimbabwe to which he declared himself to be the archbishop.

His self-declared appointment to be archbishop comes as the Zimbabwe government launched a violent crackdown on those who opposed his self-ordination. It was reported by the U.K. Times news publication that at least three bishops and several parishioners were dragged out of the church and sent to prison. Their crime was to hold Sunday service without permission from the Zimbabwe government.

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